Never, Never
by Shinigami Yumi
Summary: Written for the 1sentence challenge sentence on LiveJournal, Warriors Orochi according to Cao Pi in 50 sentences mostly about Mitsunari. (Cao Pi/Mitsunari)


Written from Cao Pi's perspective as a companion piece to Head Over Feet and These Dreams I Dreamed, both of which you will find on Archive of Our Own, for the 1sentence challenge on LiveJournal.

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**Never, Never**

Mitsunari moves like a dancer on the battlefield.  
As I watch, I keep my expression cool and collected to keep from being noticed.  
For all his physical grace, sometimes, he can be awfully juvenile.  
The last time we spoke, we spent much of it making barbed remarks and almost ended up arguing before I decided not to dignify his conceit.  
The man simply can't accept that he's wrong!  
Yet, when he's brewing tea, there's a certain gentleness to his expression, and I know not where it comes from.  
I want to be the one to put that look on his face.  
I need the advantage of his knowing what happens in the next thousand years or so.  
When I am king, I will need him to guide my strategies towards my dream.  
So for now, I watch and learn.

The battles pass in a blur, uninterestingly.  
But for now, all I can do is gather my strength and wait for the right time.  
There has been a change between Mitsunari and I, however.  
He has chosen to distance himself from Da Ji and place himself under my command.  
I am beginning to see what has a hold over his heart.

This need is different.  
I close my eyes and bury myself in him.  
Finally, _finally_, I have his full attention.  
I want to stake my claim upon his body, leave my mark upon his soul.  
I want him to picture me everywhere in every waking moment and never, never forget.  
A fool he may be, but he's mine, and I will never, never let him go.

Orochi has been resurrected, and our world has gone mad.  
To think that to stop him from regaining his full power, we would have to kill a child.  
Mitsunari doesn't like that, so he wants to slay Orochi and Kiyomori now.  
The present Orochi is but a shadow of his former self, and we defeat him easily, but Kiyomori and Da Ji escaped, so they will likely trouble us again.

When his friend, Sakon, shows up, I fear it may be time to say goodbye.  
Still, I hide my concerns and offer to receive him as an honoured guest.  
Call it fortune for I dare not presume it is love, but Mitsunari chooses to stay.  
At long last, I feel things between us are secure, and I'm relieved.  
Like a ghost, he haunts my every heartbeat, and I cannot bear to lose him.

Mitsunari tells me I will write a book someday, but not all of it will survive the passage of time.  
I tell him it might be better preserved if I carve it for him on the stone walls of my tomb, and he asks if I'm trying to bring a tear to his eye.  
I would never want to see him unhappy.  
Zhen, not knowing of whom it speaks, turned the poem I wrote for him into a song.

The Hydra, the massive destruction, the near brushes with death — they all come in a sudden rush.  
When Sima Zhao and the others show up at Tong Gate to tell us they can stop it with a weapon they developed in the future, I find it isn't so hard to believe.  
After everything that's happened in this world, time travel is neither as exotic or outlandish as one might think, and I send him with them to ascertain the facts.  
As Susano-o tells us this world will be destroyed, washed away with the dust of the Hydra, Mitsunari and I exchange glances, and I know we will fight it till the moment of our deaths.

It's all over, and we're being torn apart by the magic that will take us home.  
I knew this day would come, but now, I can only hope that when he looks at his history books again, he will remember me as I am.  
Had I the power, Mitsunari, I would give you the forever I promised.

I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something important, and it bothers me.  
Even as I make offerings to every god I know of for my father's soul, I can hardly concentrate on the prayers.  
Every time I try to remember, no matter how hard or long I think, I run into a brick wall.  
Frustrated, I lose myself in the pleasure of naked bodies.

Today, I ride out on a military campaign against Wu for I can sit idle no longer!

The campaign against Wu has done us more harm than good, and I am no closer to either achieving my dream or finding what I seek.  
Yet, in snatches of half-remembered dreams while crossing the foreign wilderness, I have found a precious sign.  
It is a person I seek, and I hunger for him long after I have awoken from my restless sleep.  
I believe I will find him again, even if it is long after this body has withered to dust, for I will never, never stop looking.

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**A/N:** Feedback of any kind is always, always appreciated. Thank you for reading!


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